head to head · open source
Strapi vs Ghost
Strapi has 73,188 GitHub stars, 9,877 forks, 558 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ghost has 55,347 stars, 11,975 forks, 182 open issues and last shipped today. Strapi leads on adoption by 32% (73,188 vs 55,347 stars). Strapi is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Ghost is written in TypeScript under MIT. Strapi has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, Ghost 22%. Ghost was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (cms, javascript), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Strapi | Ghost | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 73K | ★ 55K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.9K | ⑂ 12K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Strapi if
- You weight community size — 73K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Ghost if
- You want the Ghost feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Ghost fits your workflow better
About Strapi
Strapi is an open source headless content management system built entirely in JavaScript and TypeScript. It provides a customizable admin dashboard and automatically generates REST and GraphQL APIs for any content structure defined through its visual Content Type Builder. Strapi lives in the JavaScript ecosystem and targets developers who need to deliver content to diverse frontends—including web, mobile, and IoT applications—without being locked into a specific presentation layer.
read the full Strapi overview →
About Ghost
Ghost is an open source publishing platform built in Node.js and TypeScript, designed for blogs, newsletters, and membership based content sites. It runs as a self hosted web application and also powers Ghost(Pro), a managed service where all revenue supports the Ghost Foundation. The project lives in the JavaScript/Node.js ecosystem and is licensed under MIT.
read the full Ghost overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Strapi or Ghost more popular?
Strapi has 73,188 GitHub stars and Ghost has 55,347. Strapi has the larger community by that measure.
Are Strapi and Ghost free?
Both are open source. Strapi has no licence declared in this registry, and Ghost is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Strapi and Ghost?
Strapi is written in TypeScript and Ghost in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Strapi or Ghost?
Choose Strapi if you want the larger community (73,188 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Ghost if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.